Comic Browser:

#18
#19
#20
#21
#22
#23
#24
#25
#26
#27
#28
#29
#30
#31
#32
#33
#34
#35
#36
#37
#38
#39
#40
#41
Selector

New Avengers #23

Aug 2006
Brian Michael Bendis, Olivier Coipel

Story Name:

New Avengers: Disassembled Part 3


Synopsis

New Avengers #23 synopsis by Rob Johnson
Rating: 4 stars
Jessica Drew wakes in a hotel room hearing about Spider-Man's unmasking (end of Civil War #2 and beginning of CW#3) on the news. Nick Fury arrives unexpectedly but she detects by smell that he's really an LMD, she guesses (correctly) controlled by Maria Hill, Fury's replacement as Director of SHIELD. They engage in verbal sparring as Fury/Hill tries to find out where Captain America's rebels are based (which Spider-Woman doesn't know anyway).

Jessica tells Hill to stop pretending to be Fury. But not before making it obvious that she has been working for Fury since he was kicked our of SHIELD. And also possibly that she's been pretending to work for both SHIELD and Hydra (although their cryptic exchange about her having to choose a side sounded more like asking whether she was pro- or anti-Registration). The LMD responds by calling in SHIELD Capekillers to arrest her as a traitor.

Later in a cell on the SHIELD Helicarrier facing Hill in person, Jessica tries to deny her triple-agent status. But Iron Man is there, and he's told Maria what Spider-Woman confessed to the Avengers in #14. He says he never really trusted her, and now Captain America's left the team he doesn't have to pretend.

Suddenly the lights go out. Hydra is attacking the Helicarrier, and an E.M.P. has even fritzed Tony Stark's armour. Hydra agents rescue Jessica and leave the dead carrier falling towards Rhode Island. But Hill's kevlar saves her from Hydra bullets, and SHIELD get the helicarrier stabilised before it hits the ground.

Next we find Jessica on Hydra Island facing her Hydra handler Connelly, who claims that they knew she was working for Fury all along. But now she's seen how SHIELD and the Avengers treat her, he has a stunning offer - she should replace the psychotic Viper as Madame Hydra.

Jessica pretend to consider it, but then takes Connelly down, followed by some guards. She makes 1 of them tell her where the power generator and/or fuel dump are. And she leaves the island by boat, with the base exploding behind her.

Many days later during which she's been searching for Fury, Spider-Woman enters 1 of his secret bases and finds Cap's resistance group inside. She begs them to take her in, as no-one else will have her.


 

Review / Commentaries


New Avengers #23 Review by (July 30, 2014)
Olivier Coipel's the penciller this time. Spider-Woman hasn't been seen since the big meeting at the Baxter Building in Civil War #1. Presumably she's been in hiding. Maria Hill/Fury LMD says that she found Jessica Drew because she registered at the hotel as Sybil Dvorak. That's the name of her old enemy Gypsy Moth. I'm guessing this Hydra Island has nothing to do with either of the original bases in Captain Savage and Strange Tales, both destroyed. Jessica says previously Connelly wanted to kill her, which was part of the back-story in #14. The resistors with Captain America are Cloak & Dagger, Daredevil (Danny Rand), Falcon, Luke Cage and Stature. The presence of Stature means that Spider-Woman joins the resistance before the big battle that spans CW#3&4. But she's not seen with them after that until Punisher War Journal #2 and CW#6. Remember that at this time Jessica Drew/Spider-Woman is actually a Skrull replacement - the Skrull Queen Veranke in fact. Her real motivation during all this is very unclear. (For instance why wouldn't she want to become Madame Hydra?) But Mighty Avengers #12 will say that Nick Fury had already contacted her before she found the resistance, and asked her to go back to working for SHIELD (but really still for him) to ferret out suspected Skrulls (already). So it must have suited Veranke's purpose to join the resistance instead. (And she possibly *knew* where they would be found.)


> New Avengers comic book info and issue index

Elektra

Excelsioring your collection:
DIAMOND SELECT TOYS Marvel Premier Collection: Avengers Endgame Captain America Statue, Multicolor
Holy smokes, Batman!
(The Boy Wonder)

Olivier Coipel
Mark Morales
Jose Villarrubia
Olivier Coipel (Cover Penciler)
Olivier Coipel (Cover Inker)
Additional Credits
Letterer: Albert Deschesne.
Editor: Tom Brevoort.

Characters

Listed in Alphabetical Order.

Captain America
Captain America

(Steven Rogers)
Falcon
Falcon

(Sam Wilson)
Iron Man
Iron Man

(Anthony Stark)
Luke Cage
Luke Cage

(Power Man)
Nick Fury
Nick Fury

(Nicholas Fury)
Spider-Man
Spider-Man

(Peter Parker)
Spider-Woman
Spider-Woman

(Veranke)

Plus: Capekillers, Daredevil (Danny Rand).